Argentina overcome top seeds Ecuador

The top seeds in the Junior Davis Cup and Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas competitions experienced mixed fortunes as they began their campaigns at the South American Qualifying event in La Paz, Bolivia.

Rafaela Gomez got top-seeded Ecuador off to a perfect start in the Junior Fed Cup event with an emphatic 60 61 win over Martina Capurro of Argentina but when Rafaela Bquerizo was forced to retire at a set down against Rafaella Baquerizo, the tie was all to play for at 1-1.

The deciding doubles rubber went right down to the wire, with the Argentine duo of Farfan and Luciene Benitez fighting back from a set down to take the win 67 63 62 in just under two hours and deny the top seeds a win on their first day. Ecuador now lie second to bottom in Group A.

The remaining matches in the girls' event went according to seeding with Brazil and Paraguay both enjoying 3-0 victories over their respective opponents, Venezuela and Paraguay. Fourth seeds Colombia were forced into a deciding doubles rubber but the Colombian duo of Maria Fernanda Herazo and Juliana Valero needed under an hour to seal victory and keep their qualification hopes alive.

The three best-performing girls’ teams at the event will win a spot into the world’s premier team competition for Under 16s in San Luis Potosi, Mexico on 24-29 September.

Meanwhile, and with three boys' teams bidding to achieve the same feat of a place in the Finals in Mexico, the Junior Davis Cup saw dominant displays on day 2 as all four seeds posted 3-0 wins.

Top seed Argentina got its campaign off to a flying start, racing to victory against Ecuador without the loss of a set. Second seed Brazil had to dig deep to defeat Chile with both Jose Evaldo Neto (BRA) and Orlando Luz (BRA) fighting back from a set down to take the two singles rubbers, with Luz’s match lasting an exhuasting three hours.